This book was just okay for me. I struggled with some of the writing, and spent most of my time reading it feelding pretty meh on the characters. Some of the dialogue was witty, and I always appreciate a little bit of a mystery in my romances.

I had a bit of a difficult time with this book. By no means was it awful.... But I felt it was for someone younger than I am. It fell flat in several places, and while I might have gobbled it up at 21, at 35 it just seemed a little like too much I've seen before.

While the premise of this novel sounded fun and I’ve been in a bit of a royal-romance mood lately, this didn’t do it for me. Especially towards the end, the plot felt like it couldn’t quite decide what direction it wanted to go in, so it tried all of them. Not for me.

When Princess Theodora is left at the altar she knows her life will change but she has no idea how much. After months of exile on a remote island to recover she is back in the palace and has to escape. After a Scots rescues her in a bar she find herself running away as she tries to figure out who she can trust and what really happened to her fiancee. A mix of romance and mystery that has the Princess wondering who she can really trust.

I went into this book wanting a light read which was what it was. I thought that the beginning and first half moved a little slow but once I got to know the characters I became a little more invested in what happened. The ending was even a little action packed and had me wondering how it was all going to play out.

Princess Thea of Drieden is tired of being a princess and has struggled since she was left at the alter by her fiance. She ends up escaping the castle and meeting the charming Nick who ends up sweeping her off her feet and making her do things she would have never dared to do before. But, could this lead her into trouble?

Fun, energetic, and refreshing this book will have you rooting for Thea and Nick to solve problems and figure out their own relationship.

This story was so enjoyable. The country of Dreiden was well built on the bones of current monarchies while keeping it's history unique and intact. Princess Thea was complex and captivating for a princess with the world at her fingertips. While some aspects of the mystery were predictable the main twists and turns were different than expected. The conclusion of the story was striking and I now want more information about Thea and her country!

Thanks to Gallery Books for my review copy. Billed as perfect for fans of The Royal We, I was desperate to get my hands on this book, but it fell flat for me. Less about royal life and more about a royal princess trying to figure out what happened to her runaway fiance, this was more of a spy book than I was hoping it would be when I chose it. The romance story wasn’t compelling and the overall story was so out there that I just couldn’t get into the plot. Also, I guessed the ending so that didn’t help

Available October 9: The Royal Runaway by Lindsay Emory
***** 4 stars: Everything you'd want in romantic comedy with royals involved  - a lighthearted, funny and quick read



Recommended readers:

If you like romantic comedies with a royal flair
If you like Hallmark movies with royals involved
If you liked The Prince and Me, Princess Diaries and other royal-in-hiding movies
Here's my Rankings:

4/5 for characters
4/5 for plot
4/5 overall
REVIEW FROM BOOKS FOR HER:
Princess Theodora of Drieden has hit rock bottom - while trying to please her Queen grandmother and do her duty to her royal family, she's been left at the altar. And a month later she's back in the spotlight trying to do her duty with appearances and press conferences, when she sneaks out one night and meets a handsome stranger who may know something about her fiance leaving her.

A lighthearted, humorous romantic comedy - is just what you want from a royal-in-hiding plot line. With some fun, mysterious twists and turns, The Royal Runway is witty, charming and quick-reading.

Available October 9: The Royal Runaway by Lindsay Emory

I picked The Royal Runaway to read because I was so excited about Harry and Meghan's wedding and I love all things royal. I'm not sure what I expected, but this novel was a delight to read. Princess Theodora, or Thea to her friends, has been left at the altar right before her internationally publicized wedding. Trying to get over it, she sneaks out of her castle to a local pub where she runs into a rough Scotsman named Nick. When she discovers Nick is actually a spy and her missing ex-fiance's brother, she's thrown into an adventure, searching for why Christian is missing and why everyone around him is dead. I'm a sucker for a fun spy adventure and royalty, so this book had me from the beginning. I really think this would be a fun series if done right. I've never read anything by Lindsay Emory before, but I'm looking up her backlist now.

What do you get when you combine a princess story with a spy book? The Royal Runaway! Princess Thea lives in the fictional country of Drieden. After months of recovering from the embarrassment of being left at the altar, Thea sneaks out of the palace to a bar where she meets a Scotsman. He's an intelligence officer on a mission to find his brother (who also happens to be her ex-fiance). I was expecting a fluffy novel but was pleasantly surprised with this book which had a little more substance. I said "a little" so it's still a light, fun read but the spy angle added intrigue and interest! If you love Kate and Will and Meghan and Harry, you'll enjoy this book!

Last week on one of the hottest days of summer, I took a road trip with a couple of friends and we decided that ice cream would be the perfect treat to cool us off. As we were driving, all of us were talking about what flavor of ice cream we were going to get. I was torn, do I get my safe, consistent, and reliable vanilla. You can’t go wrong with vanilla or then my mind wandered to the rich, decadent, exotic taste of chocolate. I walked up to the counter, money in hand, still debating the voices in my head, when the decision became so simple. I will get a vanilla and chocolate swirl, the best of both worlds. Plain and exotic all rolled in one.
Lindsay Emory’s, The Royal Runaway, is just like that swirl cone I had. It was fun with some added mystery and adventure mixed in.
Jilted at the altar, Princess Theodora Isabella Victoria of Drieden, comes back home after a forced four month exile by the monarchy in hopes of letting the rumors die down.
Thea is expected to jump back into her role of the “perfect” princess and tackle all of her royal duties with her perfect princess smile and wave.
The beginning of this book has all of the makings of the perfect Hallmark movie. We see Thea portray the rebellious Princess as she sneaks out of the palace one night for an evening of “regular” fun. Of course per script, she meets Mr. “Tall, Dark and Ruggedly Handsome Nick”. I found myself daydreaming as to who would play the roles of Thea and Nick, the book takes a deeper turn and suddenly the chocolate portion of the book begins.
Mr. Rugged Handsome Nick, is a British spy in search of Thea’s former fiancée, who happens to be his brother. Thea and Nick find themselves involved in a mystery with threads of lies, betrayal, crooks, deception, blackmail, kidnapping, and danger.
Thea and Nick must uncover the mystery surrounding his brother and the monarchy before it’s too late.
So if you are looking for a fun, fast paced, intelligent Princess story, then The Royal Runaway is the book for you. Just remember to have both vanilla and chocolate ice cream on hand while reading.
I received an advance copy of this book from Netgalley. #netgalley #royalrunaway

First things first, Lindsay Emory’s latest book, The Royal Runaway, is adorable! The story of Princess Theodora Isabella Victoria – or Thea – of the fictional country of Drieden starts with her groom disappearing on her wedding day. Then continues to figure out just why a guy would love an actual princess on her wedding day. While that plot line could have taken a decidedly sappy route, instead the missing groom’s brother takes Thea on a secret spy adventure.

There no question, The Royal Runaway is a beachy chic-lit book of the highest order. Sexy guy, fun fashion, princesses and castles, with a heavy mix of spy action on the side! (Tigers and lions and bears oh my) Thankfully, it’s also a fun romp through the genre. Clearly Emory knows what she’s doing. I started on a Thursday and was easily able to finish by a Friday, so it was an especially great pick for all those hours of train time I put in each day.

Princess Thea is not perfect. She’s been raised to be ready to take over the throne, she she’s very princess-y, but she also has her doubts. She also likes to run off and escape. Just such a moment puts her in blackmail distance of her runaway room’s brother, who takes the opportunity to do just that in order to find his missing brother – who she didn’t even know was missing. The book throughout stays from Thea’s point of view, through all her doubts, fears, trials, annoyances, and strengths.

Emory wonderfully captures that feeling that just because you’re raised to take over the family business doesn’t mean that you aren’t still self-conscious or worried about it. She’s written a main character that isn’t overly perfect, but neither is she overly imperfect, she feels surprisingly normal and refreshing despite the royal pedigree.

I’m definitely going to keep an eye out for future books from Emory. Looking forward to seeing what other adventures she pulls together. The Royal Runaway was provided to me as an e-ARC by Gallery, Threshold, Pocket Books via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Review to be published as of 10/5 - feel free to use material in the meantime.

Oh man did I need this book. After reading what seems like every depressing, sob-inducing book of the year, a nice romantic, royalty/spy story was exactly what I needed. While there are certainly some intense moments, The Royal Runaway was the kind of light romance I had been craving for months. The fact that it also included royalty, murder, and spies just made it that much better! Let's get to the review!

Synopsis (from Goodreads):

Princess Theodora Isabella Victoria of Drieden of the Royal House Laurent is so over this princess thing.

After her fiancé jilted her on their wedding day, she’s finally back home after spending four months in exile—aka it’s back to press conferences, public appearances, and putting on a show for the Driedish nation as the perfect princess they expect her to be. But Thea’s sick of duty. After all, that’s what got her into this mess in the first place.

So when she sneaks out of the palace and meets a sexy Scot named Nick in a local bar, she relishes the chance to be a normal woman for a change. But just as she thinks she’s found her Prince Charming for the night, he reveals his intentions are less than honorable: he’s the brother of her former fiancé, a British spy, and he’s not above blackmail. As Thea reluctantly joins forces with Nick to find out what happened the day her fiancé disappeared, together they discover a secret that could destroy a centuries-old monarchy and change life as they know it.

Princess Thea is the next in line to be the queen of Drieden. Her father would be next in line to the throne, but he was never fit for the role and the Queen, Thea's grandmother, and he decided he would take his name out of the running, making Thea the next to take the throne. Thea is very aware of what is expected of her. She has done just about everything that has been asked of her. Taken the etiquette classes, learned the history of the country, and gone to every event to prepare her to become queen one day.

Well...maybe she hasn't done almost everything.

She gets antsy when she spends too much time in the castle, and when she gets antsy, she has to escape. Thea escapes to the village to try to let off some steam. She's still a young woman after all.

And it probably has something to do with the fact that she was recently left at the altar by her fiancé, Christian, in front of the whole country.

Yeah, not so great.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), this also leads to a man, who turns out to be a British spy, sort-of blackmailing her. He leads her to a bar, kisses the hell out of her, and pays off some of the locals to take pictures of them. He pretends to be a journalist and that he's going to publish the pictures unless she meets him and tells him what he wants to know. 

It turns out the so-called journalist, Nick, happens to actually be a British spy and brother of her former fiancé.

Yeah. Shit is complicated.

When they meet in the museum to talk about the pictures, Thea's guards start shooting at them and Nick swiftly whisks them away to safety.

The rest of the story follows Thea and Nick as they try to hide from the people looking to hurt them. And as they run around the country, their relationship does not stay antagonistic for very long.

REMEMBER: THIS IS A ROMANCE *flails with delight*

And don't be fooled, the people who are out to get Thea and Nick may not be who you think they are. Is it Nick's brother/Thea's former fiancé, people looking to de-throne Thea's family, or Thea's own family hunting them? You'll have to read the book to find out.

While I would love to give all the spoilers, the surprises are just too much fun to not experience on your own. If you need a fun story after reading too many sad books (there are SO MANY out right now!), add this book to your TBR. I am giving The Royal Runaway 4 out of 5 stars. It's just such a delightful book. It will make you smile.

The Royal Runaway by Lindsay Emory comes out October 9, 2018

Thank you to NetGalley and Gallery Books for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I was hooked on The Royal Runaway from the blurb and once I cracked open the book and dove in head first I was submerged into a story and a land that I never wanted to leave! I want to live in Drieden and be a citizen!!

The Royal Runaway reminded me of the movie, Chasing Liberty from 2004 with Mandy Moore, but with suspense and intrigue. The idea of a princess on the run was utterly fascinating, especially because most of the time she didn't really know where she was running to and why. That is until she meets the Irish rouge, Nick.

Nick completely flips Princess Theodora's life upside down, even more so than it already is after her ex left her, the Princess of Drieden, second in line to the crown, at the alter! Nick becomes so much to Thea as they embark on a risky venture to figure out what happened to her ex and why he never showed up on their wedding day.

The Royal Runaway is charming, witty and intense! I need more from this world and I am dying for this story to be turned into a series! You don't want to miss this incredible story, there are twists and turns everywhere!

I am on a royal kick. I am loving all things royal. I am sad to say, this is not one of the royal things I love. This book seemed very farfetched to me. So much so, I had trouble even finishing the book. Even the start off the book was odd to me. A princess getting left at the alter?? Kind of crazy. From that point on, it was a hard sell to me.

OMG this book was such a fun wild ride.

I love that even though this was another royal theme book it was chock of full of action. I love the twist and turns that this book presented as they were trying to figure out the mystery of the missing fiance and the papers.

I love that it was a somewhat slow burn romance.

I love that Thea was able to state her ground to her grandmother.

This book met my need for an action packed contemporary romance.

A fun romp of a read! I loved Thea and Nick as well as the supporting cast, but it's the rollicking plot that really propels this story forward. This is great for fans of coming of age combined with a clever spy thread. The plot is not particularly complex, but there is enough going on that the reader is kept guessing. The romance angle is handled nicely as well and provides a fun layer. We can definitely sense the chemistry between Thea and Nick. At first I wasn't sure how Thea really felt about her fiance having jilted her and I almost felt at a distance from her because of that. However, as the story progressed, that concern dissipated. Overall, The Royal Runaway offers an entertaining escape.

Overall I enjoyed reading this, I like the setting and the writing. My major issue was the main character , she came across as pretty spoiled. But other than that it was good.

I almost didn’t even read the book but then I thought the cover was a standout so I started.....I read it
purely for the fairytale and created world aspects which were both outstanding. The creative
imagination lives in this story and very few authors can go there anymore...Lindsay Emory does and well makes up for
the lack of literary fiction and plethora of thrillers that represent the current decade of fear. Loved
the classic good and evil theme.

Romance meets spy novel in this story about Princess Thea, heir-apparent to the Driedish throne, whose ex-fiancé disappeared the day he left her at the altar. She assumes he’s laying low—like she had been—until a Scottish MI5 officer shows up asking questions. Suddenly, Thea’s on the run and caught up in this spy’s mission to discover what happened to her former fiancé—and whether he’s even still alive. That’s not usually in a princess’s job description. Not to mention the fact that she’s growing increasingly close to said spy, in spite of all his secrets, and whoever was after her fiancé may still be out there. Which means Thea may be in very real danger, too.

This was a fun, light read. It’s just as ridiculous as the premise sounds, but that’s really part of its charm, I think. It's basically Princess Diaries meets James Bond. And I kind of loved that.

That said, some of the politics took me out of the story a bit, particularly all the stuff toward the end with the anti-monarchists and the Queen’s involvement in some…less than savory schemes. I eventually understood where the story was going with all that, but it definitely seemed like characters were making some choices of questionable morality. In particular, I didn’t understand Thea’s motivations at first. It got bogged down there, and also in some of the explanations for why all these disappearances happened in the first place. That, and several thoughtless and tone deaf comments about mental illness (particularly a few made after a character has seemingly died from suicide) that made me pretty uncomfortable, lowered the rating a bit for me.

All in all, a fun read that I’d probably recommend to people looking for something with a bit of romance and a bit of espionage.